Window operating mechanism



April 1943 \R. w. TREVERTON 2,317,966

WINDOW OPERATING MECHANI SM Filed Oct. 15, 1941 INVENTOR WFmverfon,

Patented Apr. 27, 1943 UNRTED STATS iT NT OFFICE WINDOW OPERATING MECHANISM Richard W. Treverton, Bufialo, N. Y., assignor to Trico Products Corporation, Buffalo, N. Y.

3 Claims.

The present invention relates to operating mechanisms for windows and has particular relation to fluid pressure operated devices, such as are adapted for use on automobiles and other vehicles, and to means for controlling such devices.

For operating windows it has been known to employ a cylinder having a piston movable therein by difierential fluid pressures, such as the less-than-atmospheric pressure maintaining in the intake manifold of a gasoline engine and atmospheric pressure. Manually operable valve means have been provided to apply the pressures to the cylinder for opening or closing the window, but since the motion is fairly rapid and the pressure difierence may persist for a time after the valve means are closed, some difficulty or experimentation may be required by a person unfamiliar with the operation, in obtaining the particular window adjustment that is desired.

The present invention contemplates means whereby the window adjustment may be preselected, by the positioning of a control handle of the valve means, and whereby the operating means willstop the window automatically when it reaches this preselected position.

These and. other objects and advantages will become apparent from the following description of the typical embodiment of the invention shown in the accompanying drawing, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the window and operating mechanism therefor;

Fig. 2 is a central vertical sectional view through the control valve means;

' Fig. 3 is a plan sectional view through the control valve means, taken approximately on line 33 of Fig. 2; and,

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary elevational View of one of the valve members.

As shown in the drawing the window ll may be supported in suitable guides (not shown) for vertical movement to open or close a window opening [2 in a vehicle or other structure l3. A carrier bar l4 supporting the window, and extending along the lower edge thereof, has a channel 15 receiving a roller IS. The latter is carried by an arm I! of a bell crank lever pivoted at l8 to the structure l3, the other arm I9 of the lever being pivoted to one end of a piston rod 2|. A piston on the other end of the rod is slidable in a cylinder 22 which is pivoted at 23 to a part 24 of the structure I3.

Communicating with the opposite ends of the cylinder 22 are conduits 25 and 26 which are connectible by valve means either to the atmosphere or to a source of operating pressure, such as the intake manifold of an internal combustion engine, where the pressure is usually less-thanatmospheric. By applying atmospheric pressure through conduit 26 and suction or less-than-atmospheric pressure through the conduit 25 when the window is lowered, the piston and rod 2! will be moved to the right to the position shown in Fig. 1, swinging the crank counter-clockwise about its pivot l8 and raising the window I2 to the position shown, the roller I6 moving along the guide channel I5 during this action. Reversal of the pressures i. e. application of suction through conduit 26 and atmospheric pressure through conduit 25 will effect lowering or opening movement of the window.

The conduits 25 and 26, whichare preferably of rubber or other flexible material, terminate in nipples 21 and 28, respectively, which open into ports 29 and 3| formed in the Valve seat 32 of a valve casing. The latter consists of easing members 33 and 34 secured together by fasteners 35 and mounted by fasteners 36 upon the structure l3. This structure, when constituting the door or body panel of a motor vehicle, may have upholstering 31 thereon.

slidable on the seat 32 and within the valve casing 33, 34 is a valve member 38 having ports 39 and 4| which register, respectively, with the ports 29 and 3| and are spaced by a partition 42. As shown in Figs. 3 and 4 the valve member 38 also has a port 43 spaced laterally from the ports 39 and 4! and registering with a port 44 in casing member 33. Port 44 opens into a conduit 45 extending to a suitable source of suction or lessthan-atmospheric pressure. An extension 46 from the valve member 38 is pivoted to a link 41 which is also pivoted at 48 to arm I! of the bell crank.

Within the valve casing and slidable upon the valve 33 is a valve member 5| which normally closes both ports 39 and 4| and has a recess 52 (the T-shaped recess shown in broken lines in Fig. 4) normally overlying the partition 42 and registering with the port 43 when ports 38 and 5| are in any position.

The valve casing has a bearing sleeve portion 54 extending through the structure l3 and upholstery 31; and journalled in this bearing is a shaft 55 having fixed to its outer end a handle '53 and to its inner end a crank 51 which has a crank pin 58 received in a transverse groove 59 in the rear face of valve member 5|.

In operation, when the handle is moved downwardly from the full up position, shown in Fig.

1, wherein the window will normally be closed, the valve member 5| will be lowered relative to valve member 38 as well as absolutely, so port 39 will be opened to the atmosphere (the casing 33, 34 is not airtight) and port 4| will be placed in communication with recess 52. Accordingly atmospheric air will enter the right end of the cylinder 22 via port 39, port 29, nipple 21 and conduit 25 while air will be exhausted from the left end of the cylinder via conduit 26, nipple 28, port 3|, port 4|, recess '52, port 43, port 44 and through nipple 45 to the source of suction.

In response the piston and rod 2| will be moved to the left, swinging lever l9, H clockwise and lowering the window. As the lever. swings to close the window, the rod 4? will be lowered causing the valve slide 38 to lower. When the window reaches the closed position, which is the position selected by movement of the handle 56, the member 38 will have reached a position relative to valve member 5! like that shown in Fig. ,2, i. e. port 39'will be closed against the entrance of atmospheric air and recess 52 will be closed from the port ii, thereby automatically stopping application of the differential pressures with the result that movement of the Window will also stop. If due to momentum or other cause the window should move appreciably beyond the selected position, the valve 38, 5| will automatically be reversed, opening port 4! to the atmos- I phere and registering port 38 with recess 52, which will apply atmosphere and suction respectively to the left and right ends of the piston, correcting the overtravel of the Window.

Similarly when the control handle is moved upwardly to any selected position, the valve parts 38 and 51 will so move a to apply difierential pressures to the cylinder to effect raising of the window to the selected position, and, when the window reaches the selected position, cut. 01? the application of differential pressure to' stop the window in that position.

Itwill be seen that the valve, which happens to be a slide valve in the illustrated embodiment although any other suitable types of valvermight be employed, is actuated by relative movement of link 41 which moves in accordance with movement of the window, and member 57 which moves It will be also porated in the structure specifically shown and described herein may be otherwise embodied without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a window and operating mechanism therefor, a fluid pressure operated actuating device and a vertically slidable Window movable thereby to and from an elevated closed position through a bell crank transmission, a valve for controlling application of a fluid pressure diftherefor, a fluid pressure operated actuating device, a window, a bell crank pivotally mounted and operatively connecting the actuating device to the window for moving the latter, valve means therefor comprising a manually operated member adapted to be pre-set to correspond to the desired position of the window, and a member movable in accordance with movement of the window, a link connecting the latter member to the bell crank adjacent its pivotal mounting, said members cooperating to enable application of fluid pressure to the actuating device to move the window to the position predetermined by the setting of the manually operated member and to cut off the application of pressure when the window reaches said predetermined position.

3. In a window operating mechanism, a fluid pressure operated device comprising a chambered element having a relatively movable wall element therein, one of said elements being connected to the window for moving the same, a valve member having a pair of ports therein spaced by a partition and each communicating with the chamber on one of the opposite sides of said wall, said valve member being connected to the window for movement in accordance with movement of the window, a second valve member overlying the first and having a recess connectible to a source of operating pressure, said second valve member being manually movable and being adapted to substantially close said ports when the recess thereof is in registry with said partition and to uncover one of said ports to a pressure different from that of said source when therecess thereof is in registry with the other of said ports, the fluid operated device being subjected to differential pressures tending to move the window to a position corresponding to that of said second valve member and such pressure difierential being out 01f when the window RICHARD W. TREVERTON. 

